//------------------------------// // What we Did on our Holidays // Story: Live While we're Young // by The Blue EM2 //------------------------------// Gallus sat on the shore of Hippogriffia as he watched the sun beam gently down on the world. In the distance, his close friend Silverstream whizzed about in the water, the limitless supply of energy her seapony form gave her paying off (though she had just had an ice cream, which probably helped). "WHEEEEEE!" she cried, as she jumped out of the water, executed a perfect roll, and then landed on the water. "This is so much fun!" Gallus nodded, and watched on as the other seaponies there laughed and played in the water. He smiled at the thought. His parents had died when he was very young, and griffons in Griffonstone didn't really make any effort to talk to one another (apart from his cousin Gabby, but then again everygriff thought she was weird). But going to the School of Friendship had changed all of that. Despite his initial reservations, he had come to enjoy his time at the school, and had met the five individuals who had become a new family for him- so much so he'd tried to keep them there by toppling a Hearth's Warming Ornament. Yeah, not a smart move. But they'd all pulled together to help clean the mess up, and he'd been genuine touched by their willingness to stay so that he'd have somecreature to be with. Whilst he wasn't quite sure how being nearly squished in a cave was conducive to helping his friendship, he certainly appreciated the time he had with them, and with Equestria saved it seemed as though they were stronger than ever. He was shaken out of his thoughts when Terramar burst out of the water and switched to Hippogriff mode, landing in front of him and casually shaking water off his fur. "Gah!" Gallus cried, shielding himself. "If you must preen, please don't do it all over me!" "Sorry," Terramar replied. "Silverstream says she's really lonely down there, and she's worried you're missing out on all the fun sitting here topside. Besides, mom and dad want to meet you." "I'm not good with water," Gallus sighed. "Besides, can't they come up and meet me." "I can!" said another voice, which rapidly turned out to belong to Sky Beak, who landed next to him. "But my wife refuses to leave the water for some reason. I have no idea why." "We were down there for pretty long," Terramar admitted. "Both Silverstream and me were born down there, and most seaponies struggled to readjust to life on both the surface and underwater after the Storm King was beaten, so many stuck to just one or the other, such as Seaspray." "Very true- but you never heard that from me," Sky Beak said quickly. He fired up his fragment of the pearl and jumped into the water. "You comin', Terramar?" "I'll stay up here a bit, if you don't mind," Terramar smiled. "I enjoy the water, but I do miss the sun on my back." Gallus sighed. "Oh well, you only live once." He set off for the water's edge and floated in it, shallow as possible owing to his limited swimming abilities. "Here we go!" Sky Beak called, and his pearl fragment lit up. Gallus felt very odd, like something was getting squished together, and when he looked down he noticed his hind legs had merged into a single long tail, with a large flipper at the end. His claws were also a set of flippers, and staying upright proved to be a bit of a challenge. "You'll get used to it eventually," Sky Beak smiled. "You comin'?" "OK," Gallus replied, and instantly faceplanted into the water before sinking downwards. Now facing the right way, he experimented with his new musculature and rolled along very slowly. A quick exploration revealed a yellow seapony sitting on a rock at the bottom of the water, preening herself or whatever. "Hello!" she called. "I'm Ocean Flow, and I've heard plenty about you, Gallus." "From Silverstream?" "Yep," Ocean Flow replied. "She really likes you, and we'd be honoured to welcome you into our family." "Hey, isn't it a bit early for all that?" Sky Beak asked, looking at his wife, confused. "You never know, we were pretty young when we got hitched." "This may seem like a really weird question, but Sky Beak remained on the surface after the Storm King attacked, right?" "That's right, I was part of the military back then, and helped to fight off the Storm King's soldiers to allow the others to escape." "But Silverstream and Terramar were born underwater, based on what they told me. How does that work?" Ocean Flow flipper-palmed. "I was pregnant when we were forced into hiding. Terramar and Silverstream are non identical twins, but Silverstream was born shortly before Terramar, which is why she's the older sibling." "I learn something new every day," Gallus replied. "WHEE!" Silverstream cried as she shot past them. "Going fast is really fun!" "She had a lot of ice cream," Sky Beak explained. "And you let her have that much?" Ocean Flow asked, incredulously. "How can I say no to that face?" Silverstream stopped for a moment. "Come on Gally, why don't you swim with me?" Gallus looked at her for a moment. Now he could understand being underwater, if only for the fact that Silverstream was pretty hot as a seapony. "You're on!" he called, and swam after her, if only to try and cover up the massive blush on his face. "Yona think that dragonlands are too hot!" "And I think that Yakyakistan is too cold, to be honest," Smoulder replied, sitting in a pool of lava. "The benefits of having lava proof scales. Trust me, a non dragon wouldn't survive very long down here." "Yona have lots of thick fur. Would Yona be OK?" "Nope," said a large red dragon barging his way past. "Hey Smoulds! How are you?" "Fine, Garble," Smoulder grumbled, before closing her eyes. "Now please stop bothering me as I want to rest for a bit." "Sheesh, somedrake's grouchy." Garble flew off, muttering something about dragon hormones and it being 'that time of the month'. Elsewhere, Sandbar and Ocellus' families found themselves on the South Devon coast, soaking up even more sun. They were on a section of beach just to the east of Dawlish station on the English Riviera. Whilst Ommatidia and Aristate were jumping about in the water as dolphins, Cozy Glow was buzzing about near the water's edge, giggling with glee as the waves flew upwards. "Watch you don't go too far out, Cozy!" Sandbar called. "OK!" Cozy replied, as she flew back inwards. "I love the beach! It's so much fun, feeling the sand in your hooves and the spray in the air!" Ocellus looked over. "So, explain to me how both your parents are Earth ponies and your sister is a pegasus?" "Oh, sure," Sandbar replied. "Although both mom and dad are both Earth ponies, they both have pegasi relatives in their families, and this is why Cozy is a pegasus. She was a bit of a handful when younger." Sandbar leaned in closer. "Don't tell anypony else, but Cozy has learning difficulties. Essentially, she doesn't react to situations in the way most ponies expect." "LOOK! LOOK! TRAIN!" Cozy squealed. "Such as that," Sandbar sighed, as he wrote down another set of numbers. "Yet another HST. What I'd give to see City of Truro out on the mainline." A smile formed on Ocellus' face as she buzzed off in the direction of the station. A few minutes later, Sandbar's attention was suddenly drawn by a loud whistle and an intense rumbling in the distance. He turned around in the direction of the first of the tunnels on the sea wall, only to see thundering out of the tunnel- City of Truro, with 8 coaches rattling behind. Not wanting to miss a shot, he grabbed his camera and began to record. He smiled like a fool as the train shot past, whistling loudly and steam pouring from its cylinders as it cleared the sea wall and vanished into the distance like a fiery dragon, puffing and panting as it disappeared from view. Sandbar was in disbelief. That engine was out of ticket, so how was it running there? A few minutes later, he got his clue as Ocellus buzzed over and landed next to him. "How'd I do?" she asked. "That was you?" Sandbar gasped. "Changelings can disguise themselves as anything they can think of," Ocellus explained. "That includes inanimate objects such as, in this case, railway equipment. But disguising myself as a steam engine, tender, and several coaches was probably the toughest one I've done yet. I won't be doing it often." Sandbar laughed and put his foreleg around her shoulder. "You never cease to amaze me, you know?"